Read's predecessors Dirk Meyer and Hector Ruiz had a base of $950,000 each, plus the usual bonuses. Jerry Sanders left the daily business of AMD in 2002 with a salary of $916,000 (but may have earned more during certain years - for example, he reportedly earned $1.04 million in 1996, which may have included some bonuses).
Read also received a $1 million sign-on bonus, half of which he has to repay if he leaves AMD within the next 2 years. He is eligible for up to 150 percent bonus of his base salary as well as the common incentive programs. During a conference call with media and analysts, Read mentioned that the pay was not the reason why he is joining AMD, but rather the "exciting" opportunity. Referring to his salary, he noted that he held a great job before AMD at Lenovo as president and COO. However, we believe that the pay isn't a downside of this job either.
Read more about Read's hiring here.